A place to be
by JellyCakiezz
Summary: First time posting/writing a story :3 Summary: A lovely day at the beach. Naruto realizes he likes Hinata more then he thought. Enjoy! :3


**Please enjoy reading :)**

 **First time posting/writing a story. :3**

 **I do not own any Naruto characters.**

* * *

 **One Shot:**  
 _A place to be_

Konoha was one of the loveliest, quietest and nicest places you could've ever go to. It was secluded from the outside world and surrounded by a big beautiful forest. The children playing in the trees and having fun. They played hide and seek, or catch-me-if-you-can. They jumped from tree to tree and always tried to beat their opponent.

The people from Konoha were nice and kind. It was really a peaceful town.

While their parents were watching over them and have a quiet talk with each other, the children would goof around. It was a beautiful sight, to see the children play until their hearts were content.

But there was this one place in the whole village that would never be fully quiet and that was the school of that village, named Konohagakure. Why, you ask? Well, there is a group of teens, who are nice and friendly of course, but they don't seem to know the words 'silence' and 'keep it down' in their dictionary. They would always have fun, laugh, make fun of each other and tease one another.

And there is one particular blond boy, with whiskers on his cheeks, that you would never miss to hear or see him doing something that no one else would do, because they would be punished. Not an extreme punishment, it's a punishment like another, cleaning the toilets or the hallways from school, maybe even on top of that writing an apology letter. But this young blond boy with his goofy smile doesn't seem to care at all if he would be punished or not. If they could even catch him that is.

He just wants to have fun, because he believes that children of their age have to have fun and laugh and enjoy their youth and believe in it. So his main goal is to have fun and laugh with his friends. He wants them to be happy and most of all, he wants them to smile. Not that 'have a good/nice day' smile, no, a real heart-warming/loving smile. Smiles that are honest, not the ones you give people you don't like and actually want them to piss off or want them to stay out of your life.

Especially one friend. He really wants to see her smile and laugh. Why? He doesn't really know. He just wants to see her smile all the time and have fun with her, maybe make her happy even? He really doesn't know, but when he's with her, he has this feeling deep inside him that wants to make her happy, he really likes her smile. For him, she has the most beautiful smile he has ever seen. Except for the pink haired girl, she has a lovely smile to, but not like hers.

Most of the time you don't hear her, because she is very shy. Even the teachers don't have the courage to ask her anything anymore in class, because she blushes easily and then she begins to stutter through her answers and you wouldn't even know what she just said, because she sits in the back of the class, right next to the blond one. He of course thinks it's cute and answers in her place.

But not in the usual way where you have to raise your hand, stand up and give a straight answer. No, he does it his way. He always jumps up from his seat and yells the so-he-thinks-is-the-right-answer at the teacher in front of class and the teacher would always sigh, look at the pupils in class who are laughing at his reaction and would just turn his/her back at him and ignore him the best they could and continue with their lesson.

When he has done his hero act in front of the dark blue haired girl, he would look at her and give her a smile and a thumbs up. She would immediately blush and give a little smile back.

That is probably the reason why he does that, not that she doesn't know the answer, she is kind of a genius if it comes to school stuff, but because he knows she is very shy and it hurts him to see her go through that. He thinks it's kind of a torture for her to answer in a class of more than 25 pupils.

But hey, that's not all of it. Those two, and the rest of the group, live in the same neighbourhood because their parents were best friends, they used to go on trips together in the mountains or hot springs, go to the movies, attraction parks or just a normal park with the children. Those where really nice times. But the teens grew older and wanted to go on their own trips to other places together…

* * *

"Hey! Teme! Get your ass over here so we can go!" Naruto yelled at the front door of his best friend. The group of friends were waiting for one person only and it was the Uchiha. They were all excited because they were going to the beach for the first time without parents. The trip got delayed because Sasuke was still 'sleeping' - that was until now.

Naruto started slamming on his front door, when he saw that he didn't get any answer, he stepped back and looked up to look at the window on the first floor, were Sasuke's bedroom was, to see if he saw the raven haired boy somewhere.

"Heeeeee-" Naruto started but was cut off by a timid voice.

"N-Naruto..." Hinata called.

Naruto turned around to look at Hinata. "Yeah?" His eyes full of excitement, of going to the beach, and a little frustration because Sasuke wasn't on time. Sasuke was normally always on time… for other things that is, he's _never_ late.

He saw Hinata pointing at the front door and Naruto followed her finger, suddenly aware of the little electrifying tension that was behind his back.

"Oh, h-heey teme! I thought you would never wake up. You're always on time! Am I glad you aren't dead. I began to won..." Naruto trailed off when he saw the look in the Uchiha's eyes.

"Dobe...!" Sasuke's voice spat venom and made Naruto shrink. A chill running down his spine.

"He he he" Naruto laughed goofily and scratched the back of his head.

"Y-you didn't forget, did you teme? The beach is waiting for us." Naruto stammered a little, because Sasuke's glare intensified.

"The sea won't swim away or something Naruto. Be serious and calm your tits will you." Sakura said and walked over to him, gave him a slap on the shoulder and then kissed Sasuke on the lips.

"Good morning sleepy head, ready to go?" She asked while giving him a hug.

"Hn, as long as the dobe stays out of my sight." Sasuke answered while hugging her back. He then took his bag in one hand, walked outside his apartment and locked the door.

"Yeah! We're ready to go people!" Ino yelled from out of the car window. "Would you not yell in my ear woman." Shikamaru complained.

"Aww, come on Shika don't be such a grumpy, we're going to the beach! Be happy!" She cheered and gave a bump on his arm.

"Ino, he won't get excited whatever you'll say, so just let it be. Besides, it's just the beach." Temari said who was sitting in the passenger's seat next to Shikamaru.

"Oh yeah, four tails! It's not just the beach, we're talking about! You can beach volleyball over there, which we're going to do and I'm gonna kick your ass! Or just go take a swim, you know... It is meant for that..." Ino trailed off with a smirk on her face so knowing that Temari would take the challenge.

"You're soooo on pig, I'm gonna take you down with that match!" Temari shot back.

"Tsk, troublesome." Shikamaru murmured from under his nose but smirked at the idea of seeing his girlfriend battle with his best friend and in her bikini none the less. Not that he would say it out loud or even say it to her. It would be so annoying to hear her scream at him for being a lazy perv.

"You playing too Sai?" Shikamaru asked. Ino looked at him with astonishment.

"Of course my baby will play too! He's gonna whoop yo ass Shika!" Ino smirked and put her arms around Sai.

"Looks like I'm also playing" Sai sighed while patting Ino's arm in an affectionate way, but knew he couldn't say anything to her. You really didn't want to see her mad, crying or hysterical if she didn't get her way.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura skipped over to Shikamaru's car with a huge smirk on her face, already guessing what they were talking about.

"Oh, nothing in particularly, just letting Shika and Tema know they're going down with the volleyball match!" Ino smirked back at Sakura with a mischievous glint in her eyes. No one wants to take it on with Ino in certain matches because when somebody says _"okay, let's settle this then"_ , she _will_ win.

"Ouch, Ino, please, be careful okay, don't hurt them too much, otherwise you won't have anyone to play with anymore. Even Naruto doesn't want to play against you and that says enough." The pink haired girl said and looked at the widened eyes of Shikamaru and Temari. "Be careful you two, she's not going down now. You accepted her challenge, don't back down like scaredy cats. Have fun in the car and see you at the beach! Drive safely okay!"

"You too!" Ino and Temari shouted together as Sakura skipped back to Sasuke's car.

"Oi Teme!" shouted the blond guy with a huge smile on his face. "you ready to get in your car or not? The beach is waiting y'know!" Naruto yelled and he pushed the guy with dark raven hair almost in his Black Ford. "Naruto get of him please, you know how he's like when he's just out of bed." Sakura whispered in the blonde's ear.

"I know Sakura but he's just so slow, tell him to hurry up please! The beach!" Naruto whined back and put his hands in front of him. "Besides, I don't get it, he normally always wakes up way to early and is always on time. But now that we are going away, he's all moody and being lazy!"

"Dobe, just shut up and get out of my sight will ya." Sasuke said to his 'not so' best friend.

"But teme! We're going to be late because of you!" Naruto whined again and jumped up and down on Sasuke's shoulders.

"Naruto get of me and get in the fuc-" Sasuke took a deep breath when he felt Sakura's hand on his hand to soothe him, before he continued. "Get in the car please and keep it down."

"Wow, Sakura! What magic did you use to calm the beast within?" Ino said astonished while she looked out of the car window and stared at the couple with big eyes.

"Nothing really, pig, he just calms down when I do that. Probably because he knows I don't want them to fight and use bad language." Sakura smiled at her best friend, turned around and looked at the black obsidian eyes of her boyfriend and smiled brighter. Sasuke relaxed under her smile and her bright shining emerald ones and leaned in closer to give her a kiss on her forehead.

"G-guys? Are we r-ready to go now?" Hinata asked. Naruto turned around, ran to Hinata and took her small hands in his. "Yeah, we're ready to go." Naruto smiled down at her and helped her get in the back of Sasuke's car. She was sitting behind Sasuke because she knows what will happen if Naruto sits behind him. So just to make sure Naruto wouldn't pull a little prank on him while he was driving she sat behind him. Sasuke saw this and gave Hinata a little nod of gratitude.

They waved at their parents who were watching the whole time and couldn't help but smile at the couples. They also saw the biggest blush on Hinata's face they had ever seen. "See you guys later and be careful!" Naruto's father yelled at the teens, they all nodded and waved goodbye.

"Wow, we're finally going on a trip with everyone! I'm so excited! How about you dobe? You're excited to right? Right?!" Naruto asked excitedly jumping up and down in his seat, forgetting the warning Sasuke spat to him before they got into the car.

"Hn" was the Uchiha's answer. Why do I have to go with them on a trip? He asked himself that question for the last couple of days. The blond one has been nagging about this trip for over a week now, can't he just give him a break already, it's a miracle that he's even coming to this trip, well, 'coming' is a big word, he was practically dragged in joining them to go to the beach.

Naruto and the others stood at his doorstep at 7 o'clock. 7 o'clock in the morning! Why so early goddamnit! Well, it's not that early but still. It's not like the sea will be gone or something if they went a little later… But nooooo if you have Naruto and Ino as your friends and they have something on their mind, well, you will hear it for a long time until it's settled and that can be days, weeks even months…! I still don't understand why he's my best friend for like ever! I really don't understand…

"Uhm, Naruto, c-could you please sit s-still? Sasuke is d-driving you know, he h-has to concentrate on the r-road." Hinata asked him quietly and put her one hand on his shoulder and the other hand on his forearm to calm him down.

"Huh? Oh, okay Hinata, I'm sorry if I scared you." Naruto looked worriedly at her white lavender eyes and took the hand that was still on his forearm in his hands.

He saw the blush on her pale cheeks and couldn't help but put his other, free, hand on her cheek and rubbed soothingly with his thump back and forward.

"Your cheek is very warm" he said and smiled at her.  
"N-Naruto?!" Hinata shrieked and her face became as red as a tomato and looked down.

Not being able to look at his beautiful azure blue eyes anymore. Naruto laughed louder at her reaction.

"Hey, you two lovebirds! Get a room will ya!" Sasuke said. Sakura smacked him on the arm. "What?!" He looked offended. "Sasuke!" She yelled and glared at him.

"What?" Why did you slap me?" he asked his girlfriend with a confused expression. "Can't you see the atmosphere in the back? Please let them be, Hinata loves Naruto okay, it's very hard for her to even be beside him without looking so red as a tomato." Sakura whispers and giggled at how cute the two in the back were.

"Hinata loves Naruto? They're like totally opposites of each other." He asked. "Well, who knew… Naruto told me last week that he doesn't know why he wants to make Hinata smile. He told me it makes him happy to see her smile. I guess at that moment I knew he had feelings for her, but I didn't say anything, you know… He has to find out himself, besides… It's not something guys talk about okay, so don't give me that look!" Sasuke said to Sakura, who was staring at him.

"Well, opposites attract no? And how can you not say something! You know how he is! He 'loves' everyone, I guess he doesn't even know what that word even means… And don't say he knows because he liked me when we were younger, because it was not like that! He realised he loves me like a sister." She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed while she looked outside.

"So Hinata, how're you holding on in class? I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble because you sit next to me." Naruto looked down at her with worried eyes.

"Oh no, N-Naruto, it's f-fine, you know h-how I am, a total shy and a-awkward girl." She waved her hands in front of her, when Naruto took hold of them again, she looked up surprised at his sudden boldness and at the way his eyes were looking at her.

"Hinata, you don't have to listen to what they say in class, because they don't know you like we do, like _I_ do. I know you're shy but that's just who you are. Hinata is Hinata and I like the Hinata who's sitting right in front of me." He suddenly confessed with a little blush on his cheeks and looked the other way. Not knowing what came over him by saying that. It just slipped.

Hinata didn't know what to do with that little intel she just heard. Did he just confess to her? But, but, how is she supposed to react! She doesn't know what to do, the one she loves, the one she looked up to, the one that she admired for so long, the one she thought would never feel the same way as her, just confessed to her and all she can think of is how she should react or what she should say to him.

"I- I, Naruto, Y-you're hurting my hand." That was all she could say as he looked back at her, down at their entwined hands before he released them and moved back over to his side of the car and looked outside the window, not knowing what else to do and how to feel. _Did I just get rejected?_

Hinata looked as if she wanted to burst out in tears or just explode. So before that could happen she raised her hand and put it on Sakura's shoulder, who in turn looked back to see who it was that wanted her attention, but by the way a soft hand laid on her shoulder she could already guess is was Hinata's.

"Hm, what is it Hinata?" she said with worry, because the moment she laid eyes on the dark blue haired girl she immediately took her hand in hers. "What's wrong Hinata? Are you not feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you, j-just wanted to hold your h-hand." she said, her eyes fixated on the road before her. "That's all." She cleared her throat. "H-how long until we arrive at the beach?" she asked, just to let her best friend know she wanted to make small talk. Sakura could see by the way Hinata was acting and the huge redness on her cheeks something happened in the back, but because she knows she can't say anything to Hinata or Naruto she just acted like normal. "I think less than 5 minutes, you can already see the dunes and the kites in the air." She said with a reassuring smile.

Sasuke looked sideways and took a glimpse of the quiet blond idiot in the back. "Hey, Naruto, you're not sleeping aren't you? Because otherwise I'm gonna kick your ass!" Sasuke yelled to the back.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke with a wide grin "oh, you would love to do that won't you teme! But as you can see, I'm not sleeping! So you can kick my ass, probably, later!" he yelled back at his black haired friend.

The girls laughed at how the boys were acting. "They will never grow up, will they?" Sakura asked between giggles. "N-No, I don't think t-they will" Hinata put her hand in front of her mouth to cover her laughter.

And so they arrived at the beach.

"Whoa! Would you look at that! We're finally here! And without parents! Aren't we a bunch of grown-ups or what?" Ino exclaimed when they parked the car and ran over the dunes to look at the beautiful sight of the sea.

"Yeah, what 'grown-ups' we are. Getting all excited by going to the sea." Temari said with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah, so what, I don't care that the sea makes you happy, look at the sight!" Sakura came running over to the other two with Hinata right behind her.

"Come on boys! Get your lazy asses over here!" Ino yelled back at their boyfriends who were taking their time to come up the dunes. Well, they were slower than them because they were carrying all the stuff. Sasuke was carrying the one with all the food, the one with the drinks and his and Sakura's clothes and towels. Shikamaru and Sai were carrying their own ones with clothes and towels. And Naruto, yeah, Naruto was just carrying the one with the big towels to place on the sand so they could lay on it, the one and only volleyball and only one bag from Hinata because he forgot his own with all his excitement to go to the sea. Oh well, he will just borrow one of Sasuke.

While the girls were searching for a good spot so they could do their volleyball match. The boys were just following and looking at each other by how their girls were acting like little kids and sort of started to smirk or laugh. When they found the good spot after walking for 10 minutes they settled down and started taking their clothes off. Lucky they already put on their bikini's otherwise it would've been awkward if they still had to change.

The boys also removed their clothes and went to the water. The water itself was warm. But the sun was burning so bright that they decided to go back and ask their girlfriends to smear some sunblock on them before they went in and come out like lobsters. They didn't want to see their girls laughing at them.

"Hey Hinata, do you want to go in the water with me?" Naruto asked her politely not knowing how to act around her now. "O-oh, of course N-Naruto, but could y-you smear some s-sunblock on me f-first before w-we go in?" she asked timidly and a little daring because she saw that he didn't know how to act around her anymore and she didn't want it to be awkward.

"yeah, sure. Come and lay down. I'll put some on." He laughed sheepishly. "could you smear some on me too after I finish putting it on you?" he asked and looked down at her. "s-sure, no problem." She looked up at him and give him a smile.

After putting the sunblock on each other they excused themselves from the group after hearing "Yeah, be careful okay! And Naruto! Don't you dare do something to Hinata to scare her or I'll kick your ass!" Sakura yelled at him.

"I wouldn't dare do something to her Sakura! Have some faith in me okay! Jeez." Naruto shouted back after hearing that warning.

"They look so cute together don't they, when will they finally realise that what they feel for each other is mutual, it would be so nice to have everyone together like this!" Sakura said to Ino and Temari with a little pout.

"Yeah, I know right. I'm glad that Neji is not here though, otherwise he would keep an eye on his cousin the whole time and they wouldn't even have a chance." Ino said annoyed.

"Now that you mention it, were are Tenten and Neji?" Temari asked the two. "I thought they would be here too?"

"Hmmm, Tenten wanted to come but Neji didn't, you know him, he's sometimes worse than that Uchiha over there." Sakura nodded towards her boyfriend who was sipping from a soda waiting for his girlfriend to come over to him. "Besides, Neji planned a romantic weekend for them and it just happened to be the weekend we wanted to go to the beach. Oh ho, Tenten was soooo mad at him because he didn't want to tell her why he didn't want to go to the beach with the whole group. I guess she's not even thinking one second about us at this very moment right now, the lucky girl." Sakura said with a smile.

"Okay, you guys, I'm gonna go in the water with Sasuke so you have fun with the match! And please Ino, be careful okay, I want to take everyone back home whole." Sakura laughed at the faces of Shikamaru and Temari before she skipped over to the Uchiha and took his hand to lead them into the water.

"Okay you guys you're soooo on! Prepare yourself for the Deathmatch!" Ino shouted to the other team before she smashed the ball over the net. And it made 1-0. This was gonna be a hell of a fight.

"Hinata, sorry for the way I acted in the car back then." Naruto apologized out of the blue after putting Hinata on the rubber band and splashing around. "oh, uhm, Naruto it's f-fine. I-I just didn't k-know what to s-say." She said while looking down at her hands.

"I was uhm, I-I didn't…." she was caught off guard when suddenly a big wave came at them and washed them away.

When Hinata opened her eyes again they were laying on the beach far from everyone else. They were all alone on the other side of the beach. How they survived without a scratch she didn't know.

"N-Naruto? A-are you o-okay?" Hinata stared worriedly at the boy beneath her, her pale hands on his tanned chest. She watched as the blond boy beneath her started to open his eyes.

"H-Hinata?" He asked confused while rubbing his head. "Whoa, what happened? Are you okay!?" He asked now worriedly as he began to remember what happened a while ago. "You aren't hurt, are you? I saw you getting swept away by a big wave and just took your hand in reflex... You... I..." He stammered and tried to clear his mind.

"Thank God you aren't hurt!" He smiled up at her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her into a tight hug.

"N-Naruto!" She gasped at the sudden contact of her hands pressed against his chest and the air leaving her lungs. "C-can't b-breath!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Hinata!" but he didn't release her completely. "Can I hold you like this a little longer?" he asked with insecurity in his voice.

Hinata looked at him with wide eyes. Not knowing what to say she just wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in her arms. "O-of course you can h-hold me a little longer like this. I-if you want y-you don't have to l-let go at all." She suddenly blurted out.

"Hinata? What do you mean?" he removed his arms from around her waist and also removed the arms around his neck so he could take her hands in his and look at her. But she wasn't looking at him. She didn't look up the moment he took her hands. She didn't even flinch at the contact their hands made. He was confused at how she was acting. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" he began to worry.

When suddenly he felt her release one hand out of his and placed it on his cheek.

"I'm glad you're okay Naruto." She said without stuttering which made Naruto look more alert than ever. What the hell is going on with her? Did she hit her head or something?

The moment Hinata looked up to look at him he didn't believe what he was seeing. Her face was so beautiful, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Before he could say anything else she started to move forward. He didn't know what to do or how to react so he just sat there like a complete chicken. Dumfounded. Stupefied. Frozen.

He felt more lost then ever when she started to move closer and tried to lean in. When she was close enough she looked up to see his eyes staring back at her with the most confused look she'd ever seen on his face. But instead of pulling back. She closed the distance between their lips. At first she wanted to pull back immediately because he didn't kiss her back, she thought she made a mistake. But after placing her lips on his that felt like forever she pulled away a bit so they could catch their breath.

After she pulled away and he caught his breath he pulled her back to him and crashed his lips on hers. Hungrier than before. She placed her hands against his chest and kissed him back not fully knowing what to do but just following her instinct. Just letting her body do what it wanted to do at that moment.

When they pulled back from each other again he said between breaths "so… does that mean… the feelings are… mutual?" when he heard laughter coming from the petite girl in front of him and the moment she nodded at him and gave him the most mesmerizing smile he'd ever seen on her he pulled her against him and gave little pecks on her face and then finally he kissed her on the lips.

"Hinata, I think I'm in love with you. I think I've loved you for a while now because my heart started to beat very fast every time we were together. But I just didn't know if it was the same with you." He suddenly blurted out and smiling like an idiot, he took her hands back in his and squeezed them a little. _"I love you."_

"Thank you for always being there for me Naruto and thank you for confessing to me because otherwise I would've never dared to say anything to you." She said without stuttering for the first time in her life. Also, for the first time in her life she felt like she could take on the world because she always felt she had _a place to be_ and now she found it. She found _him_. Her _home_.

" _I love you too"_

The End

* * *

Okaaaaaaay! Yeeeeey! First story EVER posted... Took me a lot of courage... So nervous... Hehe.

I hope you enjoyed it!? Please read and review!

I really want to thank AngeLhearteD (Quietus) en zoikoiroi (Divorce or not divorce) with their lovely stories. Made me want to write myself. :3  
But please, don't compare me to them. They are great, fantastic, marvelous,... I love their stories soooooooo much! 3 I really reccomend them. ^^


End file.
